When Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall arrived at his new job in Charlottesville, he quickly took notice of the offensive and defensive lines. For the way the new staff wanted to play and practice, the numbers in the trenches needed a boost.
Mendenhall said Monday on the Hoos Talking radio show, TheSabre.com media partner on Fox Sports 910 AM in Richmond, that good news may be on the way on the offensive line.
“We’re getting healthy. That’s a work in progress,” Mendenhall said. ”Nothing significant to report in terms of players that are absolutely, absolutely back other than I would say there’s a possibility coming into fall camp that Michael Mooney [may be back], which would be another good player to have back for us. Any player right now back on the offensive line is helpful so having Michael back would be a nice benefit for us. When we came down to spring practice and said who else might be able to fill in and do a nice job we saw Trenton Jenkins actually step up a little bit and do a nice job for us. Again, there’s a lot of guys that got work, needed work, and were given a great chance to see what they could do. I think we might get R.J. Proctor back and another player we were impressed with was Jacob Fieler. So Proctor coming back, Mooney coming back – those two will give us two players we didn’t have in spring and then you add Jared Cohen to it so that would be three and we need all three.”
Working through those names should be encouraging for Hoo fans. Jenkins is a walk-on from the Covenant School in Charlottesville, but spent a year at Fork Union Military Academy in 2014. He redshirted in 2015. His father was a kicker for UVA from 1973-76. Mooney, a redshirt senior, started 14 games in 2014 and 2015 as part of 28 career appearances. A leg injury against Pittsburgh on Oct. 10 meant Mooney missed the final seven games last season, though. He also sat out spring practice.
Proctor redshirted last season, but at 6’4” and 305 pounds with some mobility he is someone that could possibly provide some of the depth needed. Listed at center on the roster, any ability to take snaps there could allow senior Jackson Matteo, who has played at center, guard, and tackle in the past, the flexibility to line up elsewhere. Fieler impressed early in fall training camp last August, but he was injured before the opener and missed the entire season. Fieler came to UVA by way of John Shuman’s postgraduate team at Fork Union Military Academy.
Finally, Cohen is a transfer from the University of North Carolina with immediate eligibility because he did not play last season. He played 13 games at offensive guard as a true freshman in 2014 before leaving the program before the 2015 season. Cohen provides depth at the guard spot.
”It’s great to have Jared Cohen because again in taking over the program and looking at numbers and the model that we like in terms of having the bodies necessary not only to play football the way we want to but to practice, we’re clearly in a deficit at offensive and defensive line,” Mendenhall said. ”I think after spring practice we have enough players to have a quality football team, but we certainly aren’t very deep. So it puts us in a very unique situation because we consider ourselves a team that loves to practice physical and play physical and when you practice physical and play physical there is risk of injury and attrition that could happen. So it’s a delicate balance right now to build the culture we want and to keep enough players healthy on the interiors to play the way that we want to play. Jared Cohen gives us some experience and a quality player.”
